Today's coverage: GM fallout, Geithner in China, possible jet debris

• The taxpayer's shares.Mark Trumbull looks at the prospects for the American public's new investment in the auto industry. The consensus is clear: This is a rescue mission, not a moneymaking proposition. Word on the street is that most of the taxpayer money is gone for good.

• Rates also rise. Mark Trumbull finds two sides to interest rates starting to rise again – a sign that investors are regaining enough confidence to shift money from bonds back into stocks, but also signal bad news ahead for the deeply indebted and still borrowing federal government.

• McChrystal hearings. Gordon Lubold reports the context for the Senate hearing today for the new commander of US forces in Afghanistan. US officials sense that public support for Obama's Pakistan/Afghanistan plan only runs so deep – and that they have to show successes there soon. The clock is ticking.

• Administering outreach. Cabinet secretaries fan out across the Midwest Tuesday to offer solace and aid to workers and communities hit hard by the newly announced auto plant closings. Mark Guarino observes whether they are offering concrete help, or mainly a shoulder to cry on?

• Main Street stopovers. Bill Glauber posts his first daily blog from Plymouth, Mass., as he drives across the country checking the state of affairs in mostly smaller town America. A sour economy has nixed Plymouth's Fourth of July parade.

• Geithner in China. The US Treasury Secretary meets with China's top leaders Tuesday to allay fears about their massive holdings in US debt and to beg them to buy more. Peter Ford looks at how the Chinese feel about their position of both strength and vulnerability.

• Freed prisoner in Pakistan.Issama Ahmed reports on a Pakistani court's decision to release the founder of a militant group which India blames for masterminding last November's Mumbai attacks. The move will strike a blow to the peace process between the two nuclear-armed states, according to analysts.

• The next Dear Leader. Don Kirk reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's youngest son may be the heir to power, but he won't have the clout of his father or grandfather. More likely he'll be the figurehead in a collective leadership. Analysts give qualified credibility to latest reports that Kim Jong Il has definitely selected him. Educated in Switzerland, the son is reputedly an NBA fan.